"Do the dishes"... three hours later, the dishes are still there why little Johnny is still on his phone.

We have all tried talking to someone when they're busy texting? Usually, you're being ignored... or are you?

A new study from University College London found it's NOT that your friends and family members are ignoring you because they're terrible, and you're annoying or they don't want to do the dishes... It's because when people text, they actually go temporarily DEAF.

The researchers found that when we focus on something visual like texting or playing a video game, our brains temporarily tune out normal sounds.

So you'd hear something unusual, like a siren . . . but you don't hear normal stuff, like people talking. And the more you're concentrating on your phone, the less other stuff you can hear.

So while your dishes stack up cause Johnny is busy texting his new girlfriend or playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, go unplug the Xbox, take the phone away for a while... that'll grab his attention.

The researchers say it's because our hearing and vision basically split the same resources in the brain . . . so when we're focused on one, it's tough to use the other.